{{Short description|British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse}}
{{Infobox racehorse | horsename = Poet Prince | image_name = | caption = | sire = Milton | grandsire = Marcovil | dam = Welsh Princess | damsire = Hapsburg | sex = [[Gelding]] | foaled = 1932<ref name="pedigree">{{cite web|url=http://www.pedigreequery.com/poet+prince|title=Poet Prince pedigree |publisher=Pedigree Online |date=2016-03-19 |accessdate=2016-03-19}}</ref> | country = United Kingdom | colour = [[Chestnut (coat)|Chestnut]] | breeder = | owner = David Sherbrooke | trainer = [[Ivor Anthony]]<br>[[Fulke Walwyn]] | record = | earnings = | race = Stanley Chase (1940)<br>[[Cheltenham Gold Cup]] (1941) |awards= |honours = |updated= }}
'''Poet Prince''' (foaled 1932) was a British [[Thoroughbred]] racehorse who won the 1941 [[Cheltenham Gold Cup]]. He had earlier won the Stanley Chase at [[Aintree Racecourse|Aintree]] and went on to contest two more Gold Cups. He was unplaced when well-fancied in 1942 and finished fourth in 1945 at the age of thirteen.
==Background== Poet Prince was a chestnut gelding with a broad white [[Horse markings#Fae markings|blaze]]<ref name="chelt">{{cite web|url=http://www.thefestival2016.co.uk/hall-of-fame/1940s/#mVgYAtcVbmzfePUR.97|title=1940s - Cheltenham|work=Cheltenham Racecourse official site}}</ref> bred in the United Kingdom. He was sired by Milton, a representative of the [[Godolphin Arabian]] sireline whose wins included the [[Criterion Stakes]] in 1918 and the [[Ribblesdale Stakes]] in the following year. His dam, Welsh Princess was a great-granddaughter of Wedding Eve, an Irish broodmare whose other descendants have included the [[Kentucky Derby]] winner [[Ponder (horse)|Ponder]].<ref name="tbl">{{cite web|url=http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Families/Family23.htm|title=Piping Peg's Dam - Family 23|publisher=Thoroughbred Bloodlines|access-date=2016-03-29|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054326/http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Families/Family23.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
As a young horse Poet Prince had breathing problems and was not regarded as a serious racing prospect. He was acquired for only 40 [[Guinea (British coin)|guineas]] by David Sherbrooke, a [[veterinary surgeon]] who also competed as an amateur jockey. He was initially sent into training with Ivor Anthony at [[Wroughton]] in [[Wiltshire]].<ref name="chelt"/>
==Racing career== Poet Prince showed good form in the early part of his racing career and won the Stanley Chase at [[Aintree Racecourse]] in the spring of 1940.<ref name="insane"/> Despite his success at the course, he never contested the [[Grand National]].<ref name="Green">{{cite book|last=Green|first=Reg | title=The History of the Grand National: A Race Apart| publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|year=1993|isbn = 0-340-58515-3}}</ref>
On 20 March 1941, Poet Prince was one of ten horses to contest the sixteenth running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. David Sherbrooke had intended to ride the horse himself but was injured in a fall on the previous day and the ride went to Roger Burford.<ref name="insane"/> The 1940 winner [[Roman Hackle]] favourite ahead of Savon with Poet Prince third choice in the betting at odds of [[Fractional odds|7/2]]<ref name="Breedon">{{cite book|last1=Abelson|first1=Edward|last2=Tyrrel|first2=John| title=The Breedon Book of Horse Racing Records|publisher=Breedon Books Publishing |year=1993|isbn=978-1-873626-15-3}}</ref> whilst the other fancied runners included [[Red Rower]] (also trained by Ivor Anthony) and The Professor. In the race Poet Prince tracked Red Rower before taking the lead at the final obstacle. He drew away on the run-in and won by three [[Horse length|lengths]] from Savon, with Red Rower a short head away in third place.<ref name="Harman">{{cite book | last = Harman | first = Bob | title = The Ultimate Dream: The History of the Cheltenham Gold Cup| publisher=Mainstream Publishing | year = 2000| isbn = 1-84018-381-0}}</ref>
Poet Prince ran well in [[Hurdling (horse race)|hurdle races]] in the early part of the next season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63573364?searchTerm=%22Poet%20Prince%22&searchLimits=l-decade=194%7c%7c%7cl-year=1942|title=English Sporting Letter|date=2 May 1942|work=[[Townsville Daily Bulletin]]}}</ref> On 21 March 1942 he made an attempt to win a second Gold Cup when he faced stronger opposition in a race run in thick fog. Ridden again by Burford he finished unplaced behind the French-bred [[Medoc II]].<ref name="Harman"/> National Hunt racing in Britain was suspended in September 1942. The first Cheltenham Festival for three years was held in 1945 and Poet Prince, now trained by [[Fulke Walwyn]], returned to contest his third Gold Cup at the age of thirteen. He traveled very well for most of the way and looked the likely winner two fences out but then began to struggle and dropped back to finish fourth behind Red Rower.<ref name="Harman"/><ref name="insane">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PH6cPa-SwycC&q=%22Poet+Prince%22+%22Cheltenham%22&pg=PA190|title=Insane and Unseemly: British Racing in World War II|year=2009|author=John Saville|publisher=Matador|isbn=9781848760349}}</ref>
==Assessment and honours== In their book, ''A Century of Champions'', based on the [[Timeform]] rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Poet Prince a "poor" Gold Cup winner.<ref name="century">{{cite book|last1=Morris| first1=Tony|last2=Randall|first2=John|title=A Century of Champions|publisher= Portway Press|year=1999|isbn=9781901570151}}</ref>
==Pedigree== {{Pedigree |name = Poet Prince (GB), chestnut gelding, 1932<ref name="pedigree"/> |f = Milton (GB)<br />1916 |m = Welsh Princess (GB) <br />1924 |ff = [[Marcovil]] (GB)<br />1903 |fm = Misfit (GB)<br />1909 |mf = Hapsburg (GB)<br />1911 |mm = Welsh Bride (GB)<br />1912 |fff = Marco |ffm = Lady Villikins |fmf = Collar |fmm = Miss Lettice |mff = [[Desmond (horse)|Desmond]] |mfm = Altesse |mmf = Picton |mmm = Irish Bride |ffff = [[Barcaldine (horse)|Barcaldine]] |fffm = Novitiate |ffmf = Hagioscope |ffmm = Dinah |fmff = '''[[St Simon (horse)|St Simon]]*''' |fmfm = Ornament |fmmf = '''[[Amphion (horse)|Amphion]]*''' |fmmm = Vetch |mfff = '''St Simon*''' |mffm = [[L'Abbesse de Jouarre]] |mfmf = '''Amphion*''' |mfmm = Marchioness |mmff = Orvieto |mmfm = Hecuba |mmmf = St Gris |mmmm = Wedding Eve (Family: 23)<ref name="tbl"/> }}
{{asterisk}} Poet Prince is [[inbreeding|inbred]] 4S × 4D to the stallion [[St Simon (horse)|St Simon]], meaning that he appears fourth generation on the sire side of his pedigree and fourth generation on the dam side of his pedigree.
{{asterisk}} Poet Prince is inbred 4S × 4D to the stallion [[Amphion (horse)|Amphion]], meaning that he appears fourth generation on the sire side of his pedigree and fourth generation on the dam side of his pedigree.
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Cheltenham Gold Cup winners}}
[[Category:1932 racehorse births]] [[Category:Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Thoroughbred family 23]] [[Category:Cheltenham Gold Cup winners]] [[Category:Cheltenham Festival winners]] [[Category:National Hunt racehorses]] [[Category:Godolphin Arabian sire line]]